Incheon’s city government created something called the Korean Center for Arab and Islamic Culture a year ago, but has suddenly decided to shut it down, and Arab countries are protesting the decision. Reports are that ambassadors from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the city’s government offices to lodge official protests and ask that the city reconsider the decision. It would appear to be only a matter of course that these countries be demanding as much, given how the cultural center came to be and what it has accomplished so far. We, too, hope to see the city reconsider its decision to close it down.

The Korean Center for Arab and Islamic Culture was the brainchild of Mayor Ahn Sang-soo, who in October 2006 proposed that the city build something like it as a way to win support from Middle Eastern countries as the city joined the race to win the 2014 Asian Games. Arab interest in the center was readily evidenced in the fact that its opening in October 2007 was attended by the secretary-general of the Arab League, approximately ten Arab ambassadors, the crown prince of Qatar, and a special emissary of the Emir of Kuwait. Korea has maintained relations with the region since Koreans went to work there during the “Middle East construction bonanza” of the seventies, but Koreans’ knowledge of the culture had long remained superficial, and the expectation was that the center would contribute to greater understanding.

It has been learned that at the opening ceremony, Mayor Ahn called the center a symbol of Incheon’s drive to be an international city and pledged to have it moved to a new building in the newly-developing Cheongna District by 2012. The center has been well received in its first year of operation, with a variety of activities, including invitational lectures by Arab ambassadors, special exhibits, concerts and business consulting sessions.

The city’s excuse for closing the place down is vague, with it claiming it needs to build something it is calling a “global center” in its place. An official with the Korea Middle East Association, the organization operating the cultural center, suggests the real reason is pressure from Protestants. If true, this would be a most serious issue. More than anything else, the problem is that Incheon is discarding the good will it had with Arab nations. It will have nothing to say for itself if Arab countries say they were taken advantage of for the Asian Games and then discarded, and that the move is an insult. Furthermore, the possibility of this leading to religious conflict cannot be excluded, because this could be considered something similar in context to the activities of some Korean Protestants, who have invited international criticism with combative missionary activities such as those in Afghanistan that resulted in the Korean hostage affair.

It will be hard to survive in a globalized society without an understanding of other cultures and other religions. The Korean economy is 70 percent dependent on trade. This is why the national government should get involved and not ignore the problem by saying it is a local issue. The Korean Center for Arab and Islamic Culture must continue.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]